Closer to debut online

by James Livesley, Media Week 05-Jan-07, 13:24

Emap is launching a website for its celebrity weekly Closer, closeronline.co.uk, featuring content exclusive to the site.

The website will contain celebrity, lifestyle, real-life news and competitions and will provide an opportunity for readers to comment on individual stories, as well as talk to journalists and each other.

Magazine sections such as Closer Gossip and Mr Showbiz will feature online and will be updated daily with original content.

The site will also include a special competition section, incorporating closerbingo.com, which launched last year. The publisher is developing more fashion and beauty sections for the website, as well as daily horoscopes and puzzles.
The site will also sit alongside subscription-based site closerdiets.com, launched in July last year.
In the past, expensive photo reproduction costs for celebrity photos have inhibited the development of celebrity magazine websites. In November last year, Media Week revealed that Emap is also developing a website for Heat magazine, one of its other celebrity magazines, eight years after the print edition's launch.
Advertising sales for closeronline.co.uk will be handled by the Emap Digital sales team. The magazine team is also cross-selling to the website.